Justice Ministry faces audit six days after prosecution service abolished; confusion over Public Prosecution Office launch under scrutiny

[Financial News] Less than a week after the Prosecutors’ Office was abolished and replaced by the Public Prosecution Office, a parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Justice, the ministry overseeing it, is set to begin on the 8th. Confusion that has emerged on the ground since the Public Prosecution Office launched is expected to come under scrutiny. Related disputes are also expected, as Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province for peace affairs, who is imprisoned in connection with the Ssangbangwool case involving illegal remittances to North Korea, has had his side publicly call for parole.
The National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee began its parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Justice and affiliated bodies, including the Korea Legal Aid Corporation, at 10 a.m. that day. With the justice minister’s post vacant, Lee Jin-su, acting minister of justice (vice minister), will respond on behalf of the ministry.
The Public Prosecution Office’s initial operations since its launch on the 2nd are seen as a key issue. Confusion arose in the courts from the first day over whether prosecutors who had been seconded to special counsel teams while still belonging to the former Prosecutors’ Office were eligible to participate in court proceedings. On the 6th, the Ministry of Justice also sent letters to each special counsel team and the relevant courts stating that the existing secondment orders remained in effect and that there was no problem with the prosecutors’ participation in court proceedings.
The post of head of the Public Prosecution Office (prosecutor general) is also vacant, and the office continues to be led by acting chief Lee Jeong-hyeon. The effects that cuts to the authorized number of prosecutors and the reallocation of personnel may have on future case handling and the maintenance of prosecutions are also at issue.
Disputes between the ruling and opposition parties are also expected over the possibility of withdrawing indictments in cases involving President Lee Jae-myung. The Democratic Party of Korea is expected to argue that a probe is needed into allegations of so-called “fabricated indictments,” citing problems with past prosecutorial investigations.
The People Power Party, meanwhile, is raising suspicions that the Ministry of Justice’s Committee on Respect for Human Rights in Prosecution and the Future is investigating the investigation and indictment processes in cases involving President Lee and ruling-party figures as a preliminary step toward future withdrawals of indictments.
Against this backdrop, Lee Hwa-young’s side has also emerged as a new issue by publicly calling for his parole.
Kim Gwang-min, a lawyer for Lee Hwa-young, whose seven-year-and-eight-month prison sentence in connection with the North Korea remittance case and other cases has been finalized, argued on Facebook the previous day: “The case has already been declared fabricated, yet the reality is that the person who has been imprisoned over that very case for the fifth year is being completely neglected. That is far more severe and cruel.” Kim has said that he has also called on President Lee and the Blue House to grant Lee Hwa-young parole.
 
[email protected] Choi Eun-sol Reporter